Weekly Pipeline Review Prep
Pipeline review packet: pipeline-vs-quota table, top 10 deal risk notes, stalled list, overdue list, themes. AE pre-flag DMs sent 24 hours pre-meeting. Saved in shared sales ops folder.
Before you start
- CRM with deal stage discipline
- Defined pipeline review framework (deal stage, $, next-step, last activity)
- Sales leadership review cadence scheduled
- Open deals snapshot from CRM
- Activity history per deal (last 14 days)
- Quota targets per AE
The steps
- Pull current pipeline snapshot — Query open deals: stage, ACV, AE owner, last activity date, next-step date, days in stage. Compare to last week's snapshot. Flag deals that moved stage, deals that stalled (>14 days no activity), and deals with overdue next steps.
- Categorize deals by health — Bucket each deal: Healthy (active, on track), Stalled (no activity 14+ days), Slipping (overdue next step), Hot (multiple positive signals), or At-Risk (negative signal). Apply documented rules — don't eyeball.
- Identify commit, best-case, and pipeline numbers — For each AE, calculate: Commit (high-confidence Q close), Best-case (commit + plausible upside), and Pipeline (all open opps weighted by stage probability). Compare to quota. Flag AEs running below 3x pipeline coverage.
- Surface deal-specific risks — For top 10 deals (by ACV), pull: last activity, next-step status, and any concerning signal from notes (objections, silence, exec turnover). Write a 1-line risk note per deal. These are the deals leadership will dig into.
- Compile the review packet — Structure: Pipeline-vs-quota by AE, week-over-week movement summary, top 10 deals with risk notes, stalled-deals list, overdue next-steps list, and 2-3 patterns or themes to discuss. Save in shared folder. Distribute 2 hours before the meeting.
- Pre-flag deals for AE prep — DM each AE 24 hours before the review: list of their deals that will be discussed, with the risk notes. Gives them time to prep responses or update CRM. Reduces 'I'll need to check' answers in the meeting.
If it goes wrong
AEs aren't updating CRM, so the snapshot is stale
Hold a 30-minute hygiene checkpoint Friday afternoon. Block any deal from review without next-step and last-activity fields current. Reinforce that review uses CRM, not memory.
Top 10 deals dominate the review and bottom 50% gets ignored
Add a 'review by AE' segment — each AE's bottom 3 deals get 1 minute. Forces accountability across the full pipeline, not just the marquee names.
Stage probabilities don't reflect reality, forecast misses
Recalibrate quarterly using closed-deal data. If 'Proposal Sent' historically closes at 35%, use 35% — not 60% wishful thinking.
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